Quote:
Originally Posted by MBTC
I wanted to reply to your original question, but I've already written so many of my experiences with the Virus (I had a Ti2 Desktop unit once before but I've returned to all-software for the time being) in various threads on this forum (and when I wrote them, some things were much fresher in my mind), that my best offering is to ask that you take some time to read over what I and others have written about the issues with total integration and USB over the past few years. I say that because the TI aspect and DAW integration seems important to you, as it was to me, and that was the biggest letdown aspect of the Virus to me. Also, it seems like you like pluck/pad type trance sounds, which as you know are resource intensive, and IMO this is not a strong point of even the Ti2 which is twice as powerful as the Snow. I came to the conclusion that the total processing power of the Virus made it seem like my own CPU was about 10 times more powerful. How much other Virus users agree or disagree can really come down to other things like what types of sounds they are using, the music they are producing, how much realtime control they are willing to give up by bouncing down tracks etc.
Personally the difficulty of getting the thing working consistently and dealing with latency in the DAW was not worth it, thus I went back to VSTs. Some of the VSTs I use (Zebra, Synthmaster, Dune etc) actually seem to do plucks and leads better than the Virus to my ears. I think most of the folks that are happy with their Viruses are not very dependent on the TI aspect.. maybe I'm wrong about that.
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Thanks for your feedback. I have indeed read many threads here and on other forums, watched every video I can find, all of which seem to be a mixed bag of people either loving or hating the Virus... some say it works flawlessly and the sound is bar none the best, some say its total rubbish with all sorts of glitches and VST's can match the quality etc. Personally, I have never hands on tried a Virus so I do not know for sure. What I have heard in a few pro studio demos are some really fantastic pads and filter morphing (+ just about everything else imaginable)... which is why I am now on the hunt for a Virus. As I said, I own or have tried all of the latest "top" suggested VST's such as the various U-He models (which are quite good for some sounds no doubt), Sylenth (again good for some), Nexus, Korg Legacy, Omnisphere/Trilogy, Arturia, Dune and so on... all are good for some things, but none good for all. - I have not tried Synthmaster though, IYO where does this VST really excel?)
Because for the most part I am happy with my beats, bass and FX, the thing that I now always look for (in hardware and VST) is a filter section that can do really smooth, clean sweeps for this type of pad/pluck sound I'm after... it is the one part of my sound palatte that is lacking. With the VST's I mentioned the result is always some aliasing, distorted artifacts etc. as I said in the OP. And I'm not just talking about presets, I have tried programming each of those extensively. IMO without FX they sound very messy. - if you know of a VST I'm missing or one that you think is in fact capable of these "clean" pad/pluck filter sweeps, please by all means save me some headache and cash and tell me!!
I'll certainly give it a go.
The only synth that I have ever been able to hands on achieve this sound I am trying to create is with the Nord Lead 2x, which unfortunately, I had sell when I moved abroad. The reason I have not gone back to Nord is that I found it too limiting in the sounds I could create and the workflow a bit tedious...actually, very tedious. It could do a lot of sounds really good for sure, but it took a lot of programming to get there. To me it was great with some lead sounds and some pad/pluck sounds, FX and that is it. Price vs usage just doesn't justify buying another one. Spending a couple of hours everyday (Nord) trying to create a sound when something else (Virus!?) can dial it in in a matter of minutes and ITB, well, that to me is a better workflow.
The latency, TI, USB issues you spoke of, many say these are things of the past and have been fixed in recent OS updates? BTW I'm running a dedicated PC DAW -XP Pro SP2/Ableton Live 7 (latest update) if that makes any difference.